Site For New Youth Center Endorsed

MIDDLETOWN — The former Garibaldi Society building on Washington Street was endorsed unanimously Thursday as the site of a new youth center, and supporters wasted little time advancing the project.

At a hectic business meeting at Middletown High School, the youth center study committee selected the Garibaldi building over two other sites and quickly asked for $5,000 to have the structure checked for needs and defects.

Committee Chairman Robert P. Santangelo, a member of the common council, said he will try to get the spending request on the council's agenda no later than its next regularly scheduled meeting, Nov. 6.

If approved, the money would be used to hire an architect to check the building for compliance with fire, safety and handicapped-access codes. The other two sites that the committee considered were the old C.B. Stone building on Warwick Street and the Konover property in Riverview Plaza behind the vacant Sears department store on Main Street.

W. Lee Osborne, chairman of the city's planning and zoning commission and a professional architect, discussed his preliminary assessment of the Garibaldi building as a guest at Thursday's meeting.

Osborne said the 2 1/2-story brick building, built in 1936, appears to be structurally sound. But Osborne said the structure will probably need an elevator to meet handicapped-access codes as well as specially designed lavatory facilities. The possible need for fire sprinklers, the historic value of the building and the limited building lot are all concerns that will have to addressed, Osborne said.

The Garibaldi building, across from the municipal parking lot on Washington Street, recently appeared on the market with an asking price of about $315,000. Supporters say it is perfect for a youth center because it already has a gymnasium, stage, large multipurpose rooms, a racquetball court and weight room. The building is owned by the Italian Society of Middletown Inc., which merged with the Garibaldi Society several years ago.

The committee would like to get a new youth center at a cost at or below $500,000, which would avoid a special referendum, Santangelo said. Osborne's comments suggested that that goal might be possible after factoring in the purchase price, architect and engineering fees and the cost of structural improvements.

With the city facing tens of millions of dollars in bond issues for a new police station, school repairs and improvements to neighborhood sewer lines over the next two years, Santangelo said the committee's biggest struggle will be fitting the youth center into the mix.